As promised, the Ricoh GR IV HDF is coming very quickly. Ricoh Imaging Americas Company introduced right this moment that the GR IV HDF will likely be showcased on the firm’s GR House retail places beginning tomorrow, December 17, and can start delivery to clients subsequent month.
The Ricoh GR IV HDF inherits the core options and performance of Ricoh’s glorious new GR IV premium compact digicam, together with its new 25.7-megapixel APS-C picture sensor, higher 28mm equal f/2.8 lens, and improved person expertise. Nonetheless, what units the GR IV HDF aside is its included Spotlight Diffusion Filter. This built-in filter, which may be enabled by way of a button on the again of the GR IV HDF, guarantees to offer photographs a “mellow, subtle expression.” Ricoh provides that the diffusion impact is stronger on highlights in photographs, like gentle sources.
The HDF, launched within the GR III collection within the GR III HDF and GR IIIx HDF cameras in March 2024, was developed primarily based on inkjet expertise Ricoh cultivated over a few years. The special-effect filter not solely diffuses spotlight areas however offers the perimeters of a picture a blurrier look, which the corporate says is harking back to nostalgic photographs captured by movie cameras or proven in motion pictures.
As Ricoh defined when it launched the GR III HDF and GR IIIx HDF cameras, the HDF filter, which may be very skinny and has constructions printed immediately on its floor, is situated close to the lens’s aperture. By making the filter very skinny and lightweight, Ricoh was in a position to make the most of a really small drive motor to regulate the filter’s place, making certain that it didn’t want to revamp the digicam or lens. The filter has picoliter-sized ink droplets that exactly management how gentle travels by means of the lens to strike the picture sensor. Considerably extra details about Ricoh’s inkjet expertise and the HDF is accessible on Ricoh’s web site.
When photographers need their photographs to be as sharp as attainable, they will flip off the HDF impact, which strikes the interior filter out of the best way of the picture sensor. The HDF replaces the usual GR IV’s built-in impartial density (ND) filter. In any other case, the cameras are equivalent when it comes to performance and options.
Nonetheless, that’s not to say that the GR IV HDF is precisely the identical as the usual GR IV past swapping in a spotlight diffusion filter for the ND filter. The GR IV HDF additionally has a barely totally different look than its sibling, sporting a brand new grayish silver shutter launch button, which Ricoh says symbolizes the digicam’s “means to immediately shift the picture’s visible expression.” The digicam’s Fn (operate) button can be set to regulate the HDF by default, whereas the usual GR IV mannequin’s customizable Fn button triggers AF + AE Lock out of the field.
The Ricoh GR IV HDF additionally has a brand new high-speed digital shutter to enhance capturing in super-bright places. The electronically managed shutter mechanism now permits shutter speeds as quick as 1/16,000s, up from the mechanical shutter on the GR IV, which was restricted to 1/4000s. This is a vital tweak, because the GR IV HDF’s lack of a built-in ND filter would in any other case restrict its means to shoot at quick apertures like f/2.8 in vivid daylight. This is not going to stay distinctive to the GR IV HDF for lengthy, although, as the usual GR IV will obtain this new function by way of a firmware replace scheduled for launch after the GR IV HDF’s launch.
Pricing and Availability
The Ricoh GR IV HDF will launch in late January for $1,599.95, a $100 premium over the usual GR IV mannequin, which is accessible now. As for the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome initially unveiled in October, it stays slated for launch in spring 2026 for an undisclosed value.
Picture credit: Ricoh
